Baby Sold on Facebook, Kidnapped by Grandfather in India

A man tells his daughter that her child has been stillborn, sells him off

Grandfather kidnaps baby, sells him

A man from India is being accused of kidnapping his grandson and selling him off, setting up a chain of events that has led to the baby's sale being advertised on Facebook.

According to the Inquisitr, Feroz Khan, of Ludhiana in Punjab took his daughter's newborn child away from her under the pretense that he was stillborn.

Khan wanted to protect his daughter from being isolated because of being a single mother. He hoped for a better second marriage for her, as her first husband ran off while she was pregnant.

He also needed money in order to arrange said second marriage. In India, his daughter would have had trouble encountering a husband as she was already raising a child on her own.

Her father sold off the infant to a nurse, and the nurse passed him on, selling him to a lab technician. Authorities say that Gurpreet Singh is the one that has posted the ad for the baby on Facebook. At that point, the boy was merely three days old.

He was sold off for 800,000 rupes ($14,749 / €11,300) to local businessman Amit Kumar. The grandfather then split the money, offering some to his daughter, which is how she caught on to his plan.

She alerted authorities who were able to follow his steps and they were eventually led to the final buyer.

Police are yet to get a hold of Kumar, who is now facing charges for his involvement in the transaction. The Toronto Sun wrote that he traveled to Ludhiana and intended to take the child with him.

Khan, the nurse and the lab technician who aided him, taking part in the sale, have all been arrested. According to Indian law, they could be sentenced to seven years in prison.